MANILA, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' debt soared to 15.35 trillion pesos (roughly 262 billion U.S. dollars) as of the end of May, a 2.2 percent increase from the end-April level, the Bureau of the Treasury said Thursday.
The bureau attributed the rise in the national government's debt level in May to the impact of local currency depreciation on the valuation of foreign-currency-denominated debt.
The bureau said 31.96 percent of the total debt stock were sourced externally, while 68.04 percent were domestic debts.
The bureau said the country's external debt amounted to 4.9 trillion pesos (83.7 billion dollars) in May, 4.2 percent higher than that in April.
The bureau noted that the rise in external debt was due to net foreign loan availment and the upward revaluation of U.S. dollar-dominated debt.
The Southeast Asian country's external debt rose by 6.7 percent from its end-December 2023 level, and by 7.4 percent on a year-on-year basis. ■
